Artículo

Neymar to be rested as Tuchel rubbishes Ballon d´Or concerns

Thomas Tuchel dismissed the notion of the Ballon d'Or being a distraction for a Paris Saint-Germain side that is set to be without Neymar this weekend.

Brazil star Neymar will be rested for the Ligue 1 match against Amiens following a taxing international window spent representing his country in Saudi Arabia.

Reports in Spain this week have linked the 26-year-old with a return to Barcelona, but Tuchel was in no mood to indulge the speculation beyond insisting it was not necessary to hold talks with the attacker.

The German was more forthcoming with his views on whether Ballon d'Or dreams warped his team's motivations.

PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is the latest big name to have endorsed Kylian Mbappe's claims for an award that Neymar has long coveted, his departure from Barca in 2017 said to have been partly fuelled by a desire to end Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's duopoly.